Aside from working 60+ hours a week, I’ve been lucky enough to go to some pretty cool stuff over the past couple of months.

It started with seeing Ben Folds at The Orpheum.

Actually not one of my favorite Ben Folds’ shows, but it even a bad Ben show is pretty fun. He played his whole new album as his set (followed by an encore of solo and Ben Folds Five stuff), which would normally be ok, except the album hadn’t come out yet.

Next up was the first Dear Leader show in a good while at TT the Bears.

I love me some Dear Leader. It’d been awhile since they’d played together, but it was just like old times.

I also was lucky enough to see Fleet Foxes play in Somerville. Such a great great sound.

Then, I got to go take advantage of my season tickets and see opening night of the Celtics, watching them raise the 17th NBA Championship banner. It was a moment that solidified to me that I’ve always been a bigger Cs fan than a Sox fan (though it’s close). I loved being at opening day in 2005 when the Red Sox raised that first banner in 86 years. Being at the Garden and watching the Celtics raise the first banner in 22 years had a much more significant impact on me. Just the byproduct of growing up with the original Big Three, I guess.

Later, another one my favorite unknownish bands played *their* first show in a while. Stellastarr* rocked out at Great Scott and the gf and I got to watch from about 5 feet away.

Being 5 feet away left me with some temporary hearing issues, which thankfully went away the next night, where we went and saw The Decemberists at The Orpheum, and what might be my favorite show of the year.

A week or so later, we headed over to The Paradise to see an entirely different type of band, as Bang Camaro came and rocked our faces off.

Changing styles yet again, the gf surprised me and took me to see someone I consider quite possibly the greatest pop musician/performer of all time: Brian Wilson. While it’s a bit depressing to see him perform these days, it’s just such a monumental thing to be *seeing Brian Wilson.*

Finally, thanks again to my wonderful gf, we got some upgraded Celtics seats and rather than sitting in section 305 row 11, we sat in section 6 row 3.

And now I’m on vacation. So, expect to read some more from me.

Note: I’m writing this while watching Game 4 of the World Series. The Sox have already gone up 1-0 in the 1st. If this entry ends up poorly written, full of nonsense, grammatical errors, and insanity, it’s because I’m distracted by the possible 2nd World Series title in 4 years. I also have ridiculously bad hiccups.

Note 2: I also realize that I put punctuation outside of my quotes. I mostly do it when I’m quoting song titles, since I think it’s lame to make it looks like the punctuation is part of the song title. I also make up words. Wanna fight about it?

On Tuesday, I made my first ever trip to the Roxy in Boston to see The New Pornographers live. TNP are one of my very favorite bands (#2 on my last.fm profile) and I’d never had the opportunity to see them play live. I wasn’t expecting to be completely amazed, because I know they often tour without Dan Bejar and Neko Case, who’ve got their own bands to tour with. But, lo! there they all were on stage in front of me. The band played a bunch of stuff off of Challengers, the latest album, which I’d previously been underwhelmed by. But seeing the songs live added some new element to them that I hadn’t noticed before. Going back and giving the album a more critical listen has definitely caused me to have a new appreciation for the album. It’s not Twin Cinema, but it’s really good — and some of the quieter songs (and the Dan Bejar led “Myriad Harbour”) are the best on the album and just required me to look past my hopes of a super indie pop album to just a great all around pop album.

The band mixed in songs from all 4 albums, and played every song I really wanted to hear. I was really, desperately hoping to hear “My Slow Descent Into Alcoholism” off of Mass Romantic and as we headed into what was surely the last song, I had come to the realization that I wouldn’t get it. And then they busted it out and the mostly knowledgeable crowd bounced a bit and enjoyed the pure pop goodness. Highlights were easily the always phenomenal “The Bleeding Heart Show”, the aforementioned “Alcoholism”, the crowd faves of “Sing Me Spanish Techno” and “The Laws Have Changed”, and then the most surprising of all “Adventures in Solitude” — a song that I didn’t love on the album but have gained a whole new appreciation for after hearing it live.

As usual, there was some less than goodness: the 6′4″ guy with the giant block head who pushed his way in front of us so that we could see stuff only over his shoulders; the sound mix was mediocre at best, approaching atrocious; the layout of the Roxy not being nearly as good as the Paradise or TTs for a show.

Normally, that’d be the highlight of the week. But then on Friday, I got to see my favorite band Dear Leader play (#1 on my last.fm profile) play at the Paradise. This came only mere hours after Dear Leader lead singer Aaron Perrino friended me on Facebook (thanks! you rock!). So I was pretty pumped. We got there in time to catch the end of Boone and the entire set by The Russians. The Russians were pretty great, with a pretty strong Beatles vibe. And not in an annoying pretentious way, but in a good way.

But, of course, it was all about Dear Leader. And they didn’t disappoint. Playing with probably the most energy I’ve seen them play with in a long time. They blew through just a great opening of “Nightmare Alleys” and “My Life as a Wrestler”, immediately getting the crowd into the show. Making it better, for the most part, this was a Dear Leader-knowledgeable crowd. So when the band busted out “Rivarly”, which I haven’t heard live in a very long time, the crowd new it was special and reacted accordingly. Everyone was into it straight on through to “Raging Red” (featuring a nice Hall & Oates interlude) and “Labor On” with the crowd on backing vocals. The band came out for a first encore, then a second, which was started off with an aborted, joking attempt at “Give a Little Bit” and the now customary rocking version of “Born to Run”.

Other than the group of underage hoochies (scientific term) who proceeded to grind on each other in front of us (and gave new meaning to the DL song “Everyone Looks Better in the Dark”), it was pretty much a flawless show.

Topping it all off, during the show, Aaron Perrino dropped the news that his original band, The Sheila Divine, is reuniting again on December 28th. And I’ve already bought myself some tickets.

So, it was pretty much a great week (aside from work, which was less great). Two great concerts, the Sox winning the first 3 games of the World Series (and currently leading Game 4 1-0).

I’ve got lots of stuff percolating around my brain, but I just haven’t had time this week to write any of it down. I’m hoping to get back to a more regular schedule shortly.

In the meantime, I can tell you that I’m very deaf but very giddy after seeing Dear Leader, Taxpayer, and Hallelujah the Hills last night. All three bands were awesome, but Dear Leader stole the show by putting on what may have been their best live show ever … including a ridiculously good cover of “Born to Run”.

Phenom.

So, I’ve decided I’m going to try to capture every show I get to this year. On Wednesday, Kay Hanley and The Antisocialites played a fun earlyish show. I always try to catch Kay Hanley when she comes around since her shows just tend to be fun (since she’s been pretty much playing here for like 15 years now or something).

I met my friend Liz at TTs and we headed in and hung out by the bar while The Antisocialites played. They sounded pretty good, though I’ll admit, I didn’t pay as much attention as I usually do. It was a surprisingly large crowd for 9pm, so there wasn’t a whole lot of room to sneak over towards the stage. So we chatted while The Antisocialites played their rock. It was your typical local, indie rock band, but with the twist of having a female lead (and bassist, I think). I tend to like female-fronted rock bands (hence being at a Kay Hanley show) more than I should, so the sound definitely caught my ear. I’d probably check them out again.

Next up, of course, was Kay Hanley. Her shows are always fun. She knows half the crowd, and basically plays like she’s at a small party and you’re hanging out in the living room. The setlist had a bunch of older Letters to Cleo stuff, and a handful of unreleased songs. Surprisingly, there wasn’t a ton off of her two solo albums, which was a little disappointing, but easily compensated for when Kay had to get instructions on how to play one of her new songs. Completely ridiculous (but quite funny). We also got a good view of some new tats on her arms, which were both scary and impressive. It was a pretty subdued night, but decent all-around.

Yes, this may be the least interesting thing I’ve ever written, but it’s like 3 days later and I’ve forgotten some of the nuances. You smell like fish.

Kay at TTs (from Flickr, via Teddy K)

Next up, if all goes well, Bleu at TTs towards the end of the month.

I likes the rock music. I likes to go to the rock shows from time to time. Every once in awhile, I go through the local listings and ID some shows I want to take in. There’s some good shows coming up.

Kay Hanley at TT the Bear’s! (1/3)
Bleu at TT the Bear’s! (1/27)
Dear Leader and Taxpayer at the Paradise! (2/9)
Stellastarr* at the Middle East Downstairs! (2/16)

That’s four really good shows! I bet they all cost $10 or less! How can you go wrong?

You can keep track of cool shows by watching this Google Calendar link. It’s the “Shows I Want To Go To And You Would Be My Bestest Friend In The Whole World If You Took Me” link.